


The Opposite of a Soul Mate

by Rachello344



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Background Killua/Gon, Background Leorio/Melody, Kind of Canon Compliant, M/M, Plot Convenient Nen Abilities, Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-06-05 03:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15161672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachello344/pseuds/Rachello344
Summary: Kurapika and his friends help out a woman with a very unique nen ability, one that allows the recipients to find their soulmate.  Unfortunately, Kurapika is left reaping the consequences of its activation.





	1. The Opposite of a Soulmate...

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it! If you did, please consider leaving a comment with a favorite line or whatever! <3 Thanks for reading!
> 
> ETA: This was the part 2 I intended to write. Sorry for the end note confusion! 8)

Kurapika looked down at his hand, frowning deeply.  “What the hell is this,” he asked without inflection, lifting his left hand.  There was a thin red thread tied around his ring finger. It led off somewhere to the west.  The sight of it opened up something of a void in his core, some sense of absence and loss that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with.

The woman frowned, glancing amongst his companions.

Gon and Killua were connected by a similar red thread.  Leorio’s led off somewhere else, to the east instead.  “That’s strange,” the woman said under her breath, “I was so sure the four of you were two sets…”

“Sets of what?” Killua asked, touching the thread with something like reverence.

“Oh!” Gon exclaimed, jumping in his excitement.  The thread swung between them like a jump rope.  “This is that thing!  The soul thing!”

The woman smiled, all sugar sweetness.  “That’s right.  Soulmates.  I made your threads visible.  As a thank you,” she insisted.  “I wanted you to be able to find your perfect match.”

Killua’s cheeks were bright red, but Gon seemed completely oblivious to what the thread really meant.  “Will Leorio’s and my soulmate be able to see the threads as well now?” Kurapika asked.

The woman blushed.  “I don’t know.  I’m sorry, normally the people I show are already _with_ their soulmates.  I thought the both of you were as well, but I suppose, you may not have met them yet.”

Kurapika rolled his eyes, ignoring the longing just behind his ribs.  This was inconvenient.  “Can you undo it?  I don’t need a soulmate, though I appreciate the gesture.”

The woman looked away, guilty.  “It will only go away when you hold your soulmate’s hand.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t—I didn’t realize…”

Kurapika heaved a sigh, but relented.  He’d get used to it eventually.

Gon held Killua’s hand with a bright smile, swinging their hands between them.  Killua’s smile was smaller, but no less happy, even as the thread faded from view.  Leorio hadn’t said anything yet, running a finger along the length of the thread.  He looked uncharacteristically thoughtful, but Kurapika left him alone.  He wondered if Leorio had met his soulmate yet, or if it would be love at first sight.  Leorio always seemed like a proper romantic, deep down.

There was nothing to be done about it now, outside of following the string.  Kurapika wasn’t going to bother.  He’d either meet the person on the other end or he wouldn’t.  He didn’t really care one way or the other.

 

* * *

 

 

“Aha,” Chrollo said, “so this is where it leads.”

Kurapika turned around slowly, his skin crawling.  Chrollo was standing a couple feet away, a red thread leading off his left ring finger, bridging the space between them.  Kurapika was going to be sick; his stomach turned even as the sense of absence abated.

“Do you know why this little thread appeared?” Chrollo asked.  “I’ve tried to untie it, cut it, but nothing worked.  And apparently no one else can see it, not even using Nen.  Isn’t that strange?”

Kurapika said nothing.  He wondered what would happen to them if one of them was killed.  He supposed he should have asked.  Too late now.

Kurapika pulled his knife and rushed Chrollo.  As soon as he was in range, Chrollo disarmed him in one smooth motion, a hand around his wrist.  The knife clattered to the ground.  Chrollo twisted his arm behind his back, pulling him by the arm until they were chest to chest.

It was worth a shot.

“Now is that any way to answer polite questions?” Chrollo’s voice was low and dangerous, but he hadn’t tried to kill him.  Yet.  “Kurapika, I thought you were better than that.”  With his free hand, he tilted Kurapika’s face up by his chin.  Kurapika grabbed his wrist, but otherwise held still.  “Well?  What is this little thread of ours?”

Kurapika shuddered.  _Ours._   Disgusting.

Chrollo sighed, his breath warm on his face.  “You really want to make this difficult?”  He curled his fingers around Kurapika’s throat, holding.  Kurapika tugged, but his hand was firm.  “If you tell me the truth, I promise not to kill you today.”

He finally closed his eyes and nodded, all reluctance.  Chrollo relaxed his grip.  “A woman used her Nen on me a couple weeks ago.  The thread is harmless.  You can just ignore it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Kurapika.  What is it?”

Kurapika looked away.  Just the thought of saying the words out loud…  He shook his head. Chrollo’s grip tightened.

“Come to think of it, why didn’t you use your Nen on me?”  Chrollo narrowed his eyes, calculating.  Kurapika’s breath caught.  He’d been so panicked, he hadn’t even thought about it.  But that wasn’t right.  His eyes weren’t red, and his chains refused to come when he summoned them.  “Or maybe, you can’t?”

Chrollo released his throat, summoning his book.  He concentrated on it for a moment, but eventually the book disappeared.  He returned his hand to its place on his throat, fingers stroking over the sensitive skin until Kurapika got goosebumps.

“Well, isn’t this _interesting_ ,” Chrollo purred.  “Could it be, this thread means what I think it means?”

Kurapika sighed heavily.  There was no use pretending otherwise, he supposed.  “Probably.”  He met Chrollo’s eyes again.  “It means we’re soulmates.  Unfortunately.”

Chrollo’s eyes seemed to flash, his lips tilting in a small smirk.  “Is that right?  This certainly changes the game, doesn’t it?”

“This changes nothing.  I’ll still kill you,” Kurapika said.  He wasn’t sure how, but he was sure he would manage it.  He wouldn’t let the bastard live, not after everything he’d done.

Chrollo twisted his arm out of Kurapika’s grip, clasping their hands together as he pushed Kurapika into a kiss by the arm still twisted behind his back.  Kurapika struggled in his hold, ignoring the warm almost sweet press of his mouth, trying to bite his lips and tongue.  Chrollo seemed to like it rough judging by the low groan he let out.  Changing tactics, Kurapika fell limp, pressing his lips tightly together.

Chrollo pulled away with a breathless laugh.  “Well, then, _soulmate_ , I suppose I’ll see you around.”  Chrollo dropped another kiss on his mouth, winking, before he released Kurapika and… walked away.  Kurapika watched him go, wiping a hand over his mouth.

His heart was pounding, but his eyes still weren’t scarlet, and he still couldn’t summon his chains.  The thread between them had vanished, but some part of Kurapika could still feel it around his finger, pulling taut as Chrollo walked away.

As he left, the sense of loss yawned open inside him, leaving him feeling worse than before.  He’d barely made it down the street, and already Kurapika _missed him_.

Kurapika bent to pick up his knife; his hands were shaking.

What was he supposed to do now?


	2. ...is a soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got into the right mood to write the continuation! It's very different than what I usually write, but I hope you guys like it!

Kurapika pulled the cheap hotel blanket over his head and wrapped his arms around his legs.  His chest ached with a pain he’d only ever associated with the loss of his family.  Tears ran freely down his cheeks with the sheer devastation of _absence_.

“Kurapika?” Melody called, not unkindly, from his room’s door.  “Can I come in?  I’m worried.”

Kurapika couldn’t respond.  If he opened his mouth now, he would only be able to sob.

“I know you must be disappointed that we couldn’t get him this time,” Leorio said, “but we’re here for you.  We’ll get him, I promise.”

Kurapika shook his head, his shoulders shaking.  Leorio didn’t, couldn’t, understand the agony he was in.  His soul cried out for its other half in the same breath that it called for his destruction.  Leorio could never understand that, not when his soulmate was standing beside him, sweet and kind and completely non-murderous.

“That’s not it, Leorio,” Melody said, almost too softly for Kurapika to hear.  “That’s not it at all.  Nothing so simple as that.”

“Just go away,” Kurapika whispered to his knees.  “I don’t want to talk about it.  I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

He lost track of time under the covers, hiding from the world.  He resurfaced when the hotel window opened.  His brow furrowed.  That couldn’t be right.  He felt a weight settle beside him on the bed, and he knew instantly who it was.  The peace he felt, the serenity, the rage, the pain, the loss; it could only be Chrollo.

“So, you feel it too, I take it.”  Chrollo didn’t sound like he expected an answer.  “Leaving you behind this afternoon was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, I think.  I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now.”

“I want to kill you.”  The words scraped out of Kurapika’s throat.  “I want to kill you, even if it kills me, and I think it would.  I think I would die for killing you.”

Chrollo leaned back on his hands; Kurapika slid a little toward his weight.  “I suppose you wouldn’t be willing to live with me instead of die with me?  I think your friends would miss you.  And you would be responsible for ending your own bloodline.”

The laugh that escaped Kurapika’s throat was bitter and just shy of crazed.  “Oh no,” he said, shaking his head, “you would be responsible.  You’re the start of this whole terrible chain reaction.”

Chrollo’s hand rested over the edge of the blanket.  Kurapika said nothing, watching as he was revealed.  Chrollo leaned in, cupped his face with all the tenderness a murdering thief could possess, and kissed him.  It was nothing like their first kiss.  That had been all anger and vindictive barbs.

This was regret and longing and, despite everything he knew about Chrollo, _compassion_.  Kurapika cried, anchoring himself with an arm around Chrollo’s shoulders, a hand fisted in his shirt.  Chrollo held him close, stroked a hand over his hair, and kissed him through his tears like he had all the time in the world and nowhere else he’d rather be.

“Why,” Kurapika lamented, “did it have to be _you_ , of all people?  Billions of people in the world, and it was _you_.”

Chrollo kissed him, his lips, his wet cheeks, his temple, his lips.  “I don’t know,” he sighed.  “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong with me, that my soul is tied to yours?  What did I do to deserve _you_?”

Chrollo kissed him, harder than before, something like hurt in the movement of his mouth.  Kurapika pulled his hair; Chrollo bit him.  “We can keep going like this,” Chrollo said, holding Kurapika’s face between his warm, rough hands.  “We can keep pretending this will never happen again, that you or I are strong enough to ignore this.  We can find some way to make this work, fucked up as it is.  Or we can die here and now, together.”

Kurapika ducked his head, unable to face the honesty on Chrollo’s face, in his black hole eyes.  “You expect me to believe that you would abandon your spiders?”

“They’ll survive without me.”  Chrollo tilted his face until their eyes met again.  They were fathomless, an endless black.  “I’ll be honest.  I don’t want us to die.  I’m a survivor, and I think you are, too.  I won’t let it end without a fight.  Unless.”

“Unless?”

“Unless my other half wants to give up here.”  Chrollo wiped away a stray tear.  “If you say the word, I’ll help you find a way for us both to die.  No further questions.”

Kurapika pulled out of Chrollo’s hold to turn away.  “That isn’t fair.”

“None of this is.”  Chrollo pressed his forehead to the side of Kurapika’s head.  “But this is all we have.  You’re the only thing in this life that matters to me, Kurapika.”  Kurapika recoiled, but Chrollo was already easing him back into his embrace.  “I know how that sounds.  I’m sorry.  It’s the truth, though.  My soul is tied to yours and yours to mine.  I will do anything in my power to keep you, but if I can’t…”

Kurapika listened to his heartbeat, frowning with realization.  “If I can’t have you, no one can?  That’s rather cliché of you.”

Chrollo shrugged, resuming petting Kurapika’s head.  “Maybe, but it’s the truth.”

Kurapika gripped his shirt, pressing up beneath his chin.  He hated that he appreciated the sentiment.  He hated that he felt the same.  That every fiber of his being wanted to keep Chrollo all to himself, ‘til death do they part.

“I don’t know,” Kurapika whispered to Chrollo’s heart.  “I don’t know.”

“We’ll figure it out together.”  Chrollo tilted him up by the chin and kissed him, sweet and heart-rendingly _kind._   Kurapika pressed a hand to his cheek, pressed in closer and closer, noses bumping, and pressed his knife to Chrollo’s back just above his heart.

Chrollo pulled him in, a smile tugging at his lips, and licked into his mouth; his blade kissed Kurapika’s throat.  Kurapika’s breath left him with a sigh.


End file.
